Place and position indicator.



No. 881,382. PATENTED SEPT. 18, 1906.

I. H. SOHAUFFLBR.

PLAOE AND POSITION INDICATOR.

IIIIIIIIIIIIII m; MAR.14.1906.

FREDERICK H. SCI-IAUFFLER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

PLACE AND POSITION INDICATOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented. Sept. 18, 1906.

Application filed M rch 14, 1906. Serial No. 306,038.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK H. SoHAUF- FLER, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of New York, borough of Manhattan, in the county and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Place and Position Indicator, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The purpose of the invention is to provide a device whereby to indicate place and position by lot or design for various persons at tables or at other places where games of cards or other games for amusement are played, whether the players act independently or as partners, in which latter event the partners have their places and positions decided by lot or by design, and, further, to provide a device of the character described applicable to any occasion where place and position are not to be selected by the participants.

Another purpose of the invention is to provide a device of the character described wherein the pieces which serve as checks to denote place and position are in sets, each bearing a certain determined relation to a given figure, symbol, or character, no two pieces being alike, hence not interchangeable, and also to so construct the device that any one of ordinary intelligence can quickly comprehend its intent and readily and conveniently carry out the purpose for which it is intended.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of the several parts, as will behereinafter fully set forth, and pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1' is a plan view of the device with the parts assembled, and Fig. 2 is a plan view of the device with the severalparts separated.

In carrying out the invention a geoinetrical form A of any desired contour, usually that of a square, as shown, is cut from any suitable material for example, card or straw board, metal, wood, papier-mach, celluloid, &c.and from the central portion of said form a numeral a, a character, or a design is cut, preferably a numeral, as illustrated. The remaining portion of the form A is divided by cuts 1) into sections. While these sections may be of any desired number, when said form A is of the preferred square contour the sections are four in number, being designated, respectively, as B, B, B and B and the cuts 5, separating the sections, extend from the corners of the form A to a central cut 1), whereby the removable char acter or numeral a is obtained; Thus the inner edges 0 of the sections B, B, B and B conform to the contour of adjacent portions of the numeral or character a, and in assembling the various parts of the form A to restore it to its original shape each part must of necessity be brought to its initial position. Therefore the parts are not interchangeable, and the sections of a form having a given central numeral or character cannot be made to match a different central piece of another form.

The device is usually supplied in sets, each device of a set having a different center piece. For example, the center pieces of a set may be made to read 1, 2, 3, 4, &c., and by preference each device is given also an individual color,

The central numerals or characters of the various forms may be properly called designating characters, and the side sections B, B, B and B may be properly designated check sections or pieces.

When the devices are used at a card party, for instance, a center piece a is laid upon each table, thereby particularly designating each, and the side or check sections B, B, B and B of all of the devices are promiscuously distributed among the prospective players. A player upon finding a table designated by the character colored and shaped correspondingly to the check-section held by the player will proceed to fit the said section to said character, and in this manner the table at,

which the player is to be seated may not only be quickly found, but the position assigned to each player at the tables is made known without necessitating inquiry.

Having thus described .my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. In place and position indicators, a series of forms, comprising each a central section representing a figure or character, and a plurality of sections fitting the contour of the central section and of each other, whereby to complete the form, each of said forms being of different color and having a differentlyshaped central section.

2. In place and position indicators, a serality of sections fitting the contour of the ries of forms, comprising each a central seccentral sections and of each other whereby to tion representing a figure or character, and a complete the form. plurality of sections fitting the contour of In testimony whereof I have signed my 5 the central sections and of each other, wherename to this specification in the presence of 1 5 by to complete the form, each of said forms two subscribing witnesses.

having a difierently-shaped central section. FREDERICK H. SCHAUFFLER.

' 3. A place and position indicator, com- Witnesses: prising a form composed of a central section J. FRED. AoKER,

- to representing a figure or character, and a plu- J NO; M. RITTER. 

